Elliott, Kratochwill, Littlefield Cook, and Travers, Educational Psychology: Effective Teaching, Effective Learning, Third Edition. Copyright © 2000 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Levels of Cultural Understanding 1. You understand at a superficial level; that is, you know the facts that make up a student’s cultural history. 2. You understand at an intermediate level; that is, you understand the central behaviors that are at the core of a student’s psychosocial life. Language usage is a good example here. Does a student’s culture tolerate, even encourage, calling out in the classroom, which could be a major problem for teachers not familiar with the acceptable behaviors of this student’s culture? 3. You understand at a significant level; that is, you grasp the values, beliefs, and norms that structure a student’s view of the world and how to behave in that world. In other words, you change psychologically as you acquire information about and interact with a different culture (Casas & Pytluk, 1995). 15

Elliott, Kratochwill, Littlefield Cook, and Travers, Educational Psychology: Effective Teaching, Effective Learning, Third Edition. Copyright © 2000 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Tharp’s Four Variables l Social Organization l Cognition l Motivation l Sociolinguistics 16

Elliott, Kratochwill, Littlefield Cook, and Travers, Educational Psychology: Effective Teaching, Effective Learning, Third Edition. Copyright © 2000 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Effective Education for Vulnerable Children l An emphasis on academic achievement l A capacity to react swiftly to the social and emotional needs of the students l A safe and orderly, but not restrictive, school atmosphere l An open and encouraging attitude toward active parental participation in the running of the school l A true partnership between school administrators and all staff personnel l A close relationship with the community, which furthers the achievements of students Weissbourd, R. (1996). The Vulnerable Child. Reading, MA. Addison Wesley. 17

Elliott, Kratochwill, Littlefield Cook, and Travers, Educational Psychology: Effective Teaching, Effective Learning, Third Edition. Copyright © 2000 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Theories of Gender Development l Social learning theory l Cognitive developmental theory l Gender schema theory 18

Elliott, Kratochwill, Littlefield Cook, and Travers, Educational Psychology: Effective Teaching, Effective Learning, Third Edition. Copyright © 2000 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Observed Gender Differences Table 4.4 Although almost all girls mature more rapidly than boys, by adolescence, boys have surpassed girls in size and strength. Girls do better on verbal tasks beginning in the early years, a superiority that is retained. Boys also exhibit more language problems than girls. Boys do better on spatial tasks, which continues throughout schooling. There is little, if any, difference in the early years; boys begin to do better during the high school years. Gender differences seem to be increasing; females are falling behind while the performance of males is increasing. Differences here seem to be linked to task and situation. Boys do better in stereotypically “masculine” tasks (math, science), and girls in “feminine” tasks (art, music). In direct competition between males and females, beginning around adolescence, girls’ need for achievement seems to drop. Boys appear to be innately more aggressive than girls, a difference that appears early and is remarkably consistent. Physical Differences Verbal Ability Spatial Skill Mathematical Ability Science Achievement Motivation Aggression CharacteristicGender Difference 19